Thursday, May 25, 2017

Altra Escalante Review

I started running in Altra shoes about a three years
ago.Continuing my week of Altra, I will review one
of the newest shoes in the Altra
lineup, the Escalante.This light weight shoe just received the
“Editor’s Choice” award from Runner’s World in their Summer Shoe Guide.I have written reviews for several Altra shoes in the
past.Click the links to read my past
reviews:

The Escalante
goes in a different direction than some of Altra’s other shoes.They decided to go with a new midsole
material called Altra
EGO.This midsole compound is extremely
light weight, but is responsive and provides even more of an energetic rebound
than the A-Bound™ midsole in their other shoes.If you’ve heard of Adidas’ Boost midsole, this return of energy is what
Adidas was trying to accomplish.I feel
that Altra’s new EGO compound was
able to accomplish this return of energy unlike any other brand out there.The ride is so comfortable mile-after-mile.

Altra
also redid the upper material with a new engineered knit material that provides
a sock like fit.It is extremely
comfortable and fits well.My one
complaint is that it can be difficult to completely lock your foot in.That means that if you are trying to cut
sharp turns, your foot will slide a little.Not a deal breaker by any means, but it’s an area of improvement.

The shoe sits on a Metatarsal Mapping Performance Last (PFS
Last), utilizing Altra’s FootPod
Technology.It also has blown rubber on
the entire outsole. This allows for a very flexible and responsive outsole that
is designed to move the way your foot was intended to move and will be more
durable.Like the Instinct 4.0,
the Escalante
has a decoupled heel, but it’s unstructured, so it just conforms to your
foot.I absolutely love the heel in this
shoe!

Similar to all Altra
shoes, the FootShape™ toebox allows your toes to spread out and will eliminate
issues of compressing your feet/toes like many shoes out there.The Escalante
also is a zero drop shoe, meaning that the heel and forefoot are the same
distance from the ground.This promotes
proper form, provides better propulsion, aligns your feet, back, and body, and
is not weighted more heavily in the heel (like most shoes) which promotes heel
striking.They are super light weight as
well at only 8.2 ounces.

I went out and bought the Escalante
because I read so many good reviews.My
favorite is the review by the Ginger
Runner who puts out awesome reviews.I had to give it a try and report back to
everyone.I got the Escalante
mainly because it would be an awesome daily shoe.Unlike many of Altra’s early shoes, the Escalante
looks very sharp and could easily go with a pair of jeans.I tried them out on a 10 mile run and was
simply amazed from the start.I knew I had
found Altra’s best shoe to
date.They felt so comfortable that I
wanted to keep running.I love
everything from the cushion to the knit upper and everything in between.The fact that I couldn’t lock down my foot
wasn’t that much of an issue.I just
needed to remain aware that I couldn’t make sharp turns as easily.After 50 miles in the Escalante, they have
held up wonderfully and I love them more now than I ever have.

The Escalante
is not only Altra’s best shoe (in my
opinion), but my favorite running shoes ever!!!It really is only a few tweaks away from being perfect.Altra
hit it out of the park with this shoe and I can’t wait to see how they build
upon the Escalante.I hope they use the EGO midsole in some of
their other shoes in the future.You can
get the Escalante
for $130 on the Altra
website.Be sure to read my review of The
Instinct Everyday tomorrow as I finish out the “Week of Altra.”

Note:
I am not a doctor, so please use all of the products that I review at your own
risk.